Hardly hazy pumpkin orange with a darker cloud of yeastiness oozing down through the beer as all 12 oz were added with one smooth pour. The beige colored crown is on the small side, but looks pretty good all the same. Decent lace too.

The aroma confirms what the appearance suggested. Namely, that there's a considerable amount of toasted malt present, which is unusual in a beer of this style. WP smells like an amber ale because the banana and clove esters that are typically found in a hefeweizen are nowhere to be found.

I'm not sure what Whistling Pig is (the brewery calls it an 'Alpine-Style Wheat Ale'), but it isn't a hefeweizen. No way, no how. No brewer in his right mind would use this much mid-range malt (probably Munich) and would use such a bland yeast strain.

Specifics include well-toasted bread, orange peel, tea leaves, a sandalwood-like spiciness and a small handful of roasted peanuts. Like I said... amber ale. Since it's a decent amber ale, the flavor score won't fall too far. Sweet, bitter and tangy are roughly equivalent.

A few notes. My label reads Whistling Pig Hefeweizen and the ABV is listed as 5.4%. It looks like all but one review is from the tap, so maybe Fish changed things a little when they bottled. The mouthfeel isn't the least bit porky and is lacklusterly bubbled.

Whistling pigs are actually marmots that live in the vicinity of the Fish Brewing Company. They're most plentiful in a place called Whistling Pig Meadow. I thought those few facts were much more interesting than the beer.

This beer pours a cloudy medium golden yellow colour, with a single anemic finger of bubbly, limited foamy dirty white head, which leaves but a few measly specks of timid lace around the glass as it quickly abates.

It smells of semi-sweet wheat grain, a bit of unripe banana, some mineral/metallic character, a smidgen of sour yeast, and earthy, dead leaf hops. The taste is more sugary wheat graininess, a bit of yeasty breadiness, more mineral tint, and weak leafy, smudged hops.

The bubbles are rather sedate and innocuous, the body a decent enough medium weight, and fairly smooth, at any rate. It finishes off-dry, the wheaty graininess still kind of tainted by some edgy phenols, and underachieving fruit and spice notes.

A so-so hefe, given the other options around there that don't crash 20 bucks for a six pack. A generally agreeable brewer, but this one's a miss.

Appearance: Typical cloudy golden-orange body beneath a full head of creamy white foam. The head retention is good, eventually dropping to a creamy surface covering. Lacing is average.

Smell: Wheat. Some yeasty fruitiness (apple, soft pear).

Taste: A fairly basic wheat beer with a little bit of yeasty fruitiness, and a little bit of actual "yeast" taste. It seems to utilize an English strain. Clean and straightforward, the malt and yeasty fruitiness combine from start to finish. There's very little hop flavor, and only a firm bitterness (as expected).

Mouthfeel: Light-medium in body. Gently crisp.

Overall: Given that they've labeled it as a "wheat ale" I have no trouble looking at it as just that. It's an American-style hefeweizen, basic and straightforward. There are no flaws to it, and it's quite drinkable except that it lacks a bit of character. Great summer beer!

Looks nice enough with the golden amber color and a medium white foam in the Duvel tulip. Some pencil shavings in the nose. Thin and bitter.

Plain malty background. I can't see that this is any kind of a Hefeweizen. It's an American Pale Wheat. There is a faint note of warm malt and maybe something more tart that could be wheat. The bitterness seems out of place for any kind of wheat beer.

This is like a decent lager gone bad. The bitterness is like old flavorless spices-- medicinal and lacking any aroma. From the 12 oz bottle purchased at Beer Revolution in Oakland.

S: Very bready, notes of winter spice - cinnamon/nutmeg which I liked, no esters per the style.

T: Very wheaty, some dark malt flavours in there. Lemony hops, various citrus zest. This is not a hefe. I really wish American breweries would stop labeling beers hefes that clear aren't. For an APWA a good flavour, in that style a 4, but as a hefe I can only give it a 3.

M: Light-bodied and crisp, good biting carbonation, very solid.

D: After picking up the very tasty (and true to style) Leavenworth Alt, I was let down a bit by this offering. When I expect a hefe, I want a hefe. Take this as an APWA and you won't be disappointed, it's one of the better ones of that generic style that I've had.

12 ounce bottle into weizen glass, Jan 2012 dating notched on the side. Pours hazy and cloudy golden amber color with a nice 1-2 finger dense white head with good retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Some bits of spotty lacing cling to the glass. Aromas of lemon, banana, clove, orange zest, wheat, bread, and yeast spices. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity; a bit of a metallic note as it warms. Taste of lemon, biscuit, wheat, clove, orange zest, pepper, banana, earth, and yeast spices. Lingering notes of citrus, biscuit, wheat, banana, clove, earth, and yeast spices on the finish for a good bit. Nice flavor balance and complexity; does not approach a watery feel like some I have had. A lot more bready and yeasty than most; but there is some decent amounts of citrus and banana flavors. Medium carbonation and body; with a lightly crisp and slick mouthfeel that is good. Alcohol is well hidden with only a slight warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a nice Hefeweizen. Good amount of flavor with nice balance and complexity; nicely crisp and easy to drink. It was quite enjoyable.

A: Pours a cloudy golden orange in color with light to moderate amounts of gentle visible carbonation along the sides of the glass and some burnt orange + apricot highlights. The beer has a finger tall sudsy foamy light beige head that slowly reduces to a medium sized patch of thick film surrounded by a mottled surface of thin film covering the remainder and a thin ring at the edges of the glass. Significant amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Overall the aroma on this beer is very light, much too light for a hefeweizen. I detect some light aromas of wheat with even light notes of lemon citrus, banana, and just a hint of clove.

T: Upfront there are light flavors of wheat with some lighter flavors of lemon citrus. Just a hint of clove and almost no banana flavors are present at all. There is a light to moderate amount of herbalness to this beer but I'm honestly not sure what that would be coming from...

M: On the lighter side of medium bodied with moderate to heavy amounts of carbonation. Slightly thin/watery.

O: This one lacks the banana and clove flavors I expect from a good hefeweizen. Rather lacking in flavor and a little too thin in the mouthfeel for me - I would skip getting this one.

Poured a lightly clouded deep yellow with a small white head.Nose is clove, wheat and citrus. taste is wheat, cits, like emon, clove and more booze than I expected from such a low ABV beer. Mouthfeel is heavier, maltier, and pretty deep. Pretty good overall and worth shot.

12oz bottle picked up this evening at Brewforia... Call me Grumpy.. but Damn... I'm getting a tad bit pissed off... I wanted a Hefe.. and just like the Dunkelweizen.... I am very disappointed.

Pours very clear deep golden... descent head with little retention and only descent lacing... why is this not cloudy? Throw me a bone.

Nose is pale malts.. toasted malts.. light floral hops.. ZERO phenols and esters.. no banana.. no clove.. no bubblegum.. this is a pile of malts fermented with a clean American yeast.. nothing close to Germany...

Do not call this a Hefe.. fucking nonsense. Steven calls it "crap in a bottle", I won't go that far, but seriously... this needs some sort of influence from Europe.

Poured into a Celebrator pokal. Pours a light to medium golden amber with a thin white head that still has decent retention and light lacing. Mild aroma of sweet biscuit malt that seems closer to a light lager. Flavor is equally odd, light biscuit malt with a faint tart, lemony component, finishes slightly tart with slight sweet malt and a grassy hop bitterness. Light bodied. I would never have guessed this was a hefeweizen in a blind tasting. There is a slightly element of wheat and distinct lemon tartness, but tastes more like malt than wheat to me. I would score this higher if it were a deliberate attempt to meld lager and wheat beer, but as a hefeweizen, this is a miss. Otherwise, reasonably tasty and the light tartness would make this a good summer thirst quencher. Not an appropriate choice if you're looking for a classic hefeweizen. I like the looks of the Leavenworth line and wanted to like this more, but off to a rocky start on tasting these.

Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a cloudy dark golden color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is mild, some wheat. Taste is also on the mild side, light wheat, a bit of lemon, very easy drinking. Feels full bodied in the mouth and overall is a pretty good beer, however a bit mild for this style.

A- Pours a hazy golden orangish color with an off-white head with decent retention and lacing.

S- The aroma is fruity with some wheat and citrus and a touch of yeast as well. The citrus (lemon/orange peel) is what sticks out the most.

T- The taste has some wheat up front with a lot of the citrus flavors that were present in the nose. The finish has a citrusy lemon-like sourness to it.

M- The mouthfeel is light bodied with a moderate amount of carbonation.

O- Overall, this is not a beer that is going to knock your socks off. However, this beer pretty much does what it is intended to do. It is a light bodied quaffable beer that is flavorful enough to make a decent session beer for these warm summer months here in Florida.

Aroma is wheaty and yeasty with a snip of fruit, not strong but still appealing. It pours a typical straw yellow with minimal white head. Flavor, though, is pleasing, wheaty and fruity - mainly apple - and enjoyable, if not complex. Texture is a bit on the watery side, but fairly fizzy and leaving a nice tangy finish. This is not a beer that I will actively seek out, but it was worth a fair shake.

Great start with a cloudy orangish body and a good, foamy head, on a rather underperforming aroma for this style (minimal lemony/citric/yeast/wheat/spice notes...more airy) but not bad...too bad these are highlights for this beer. This beer is alright but it it's close to lawnmower beer for spring/summer...it is sharp and crisp but the wheat twang one expects for that filling body is barely there so it also comes across as watery. And rather a sharp, exciting, complex spicy/pepper mix of some sort there's just little pricks of clove and as for that sharp lemonzest that is barely around...in fact if anything I got something like a pear or apple skin. Finish is dulled and murkey and this was a one-and-done.

Appearance  Cloudy orange in color with good carbonation. I had this on-tap and couldnt gauge the head because the glass was filled to the top (a sin in Germany). The carbonation was classic for the style but the color was a little off.

Smell  The aroma was more of a sweet malt than the traditional wheat or yeast. The orange scent dominated and seemed to have a little spicing to it.

Taste  I ordered this without a lemon but got one in the glass anyway. I like lemon in my hefe weizen but not when Im trying to review the biers flavor.

The yeast flavor did (thankfully) come out a little more at the taste. The orange flavor though stuck out like a sore thumb.

Mouthfeel  This was well-carbonated and smooth, but lacked the traditional fluffiness of a good hefeweizen.

Drinkability  I cant say that Id order this one again, although Id be interested in trying a bottled version to rule out operator error with the keg.

Though the flat, doughy aroma immediately informs me this is not a Bavarian-style hefeweizen (my preference, or at the very least, my assumption upon hearing the German name), I am quickly sold on the smooth flowing body that folds across the palate like flannel. And the adorning lace is regal.

Have I bitched yet today about how I wish breweries would stop calling American wheat beers hefeweizens? I suppose I have. That said, this Whistling Pig is a very agreeable ale. It is densely translucent in a shade of blonde honey and comes served in a svelte weizen glass with the obligatory wedge of lemon. The name references the marmots common to the Cascade Mountains surrounding Leavenworth.

If you can taste nutrition (and certainly you can), it's likely to be noted in a clouded wheat beer whose suspended yeasts add protein and B-vitamins, and whose wheat adjunct adds a dry zest. And while I can't speculate as to what nutrient value dry zest may have, I'm willing to take my chances with the likes of this liquid bread. Whistling Pig has a relatively subdued flavor, but is a clean and drinkable beer tonic with good body and refreshment value. Recommended.

This is a hoppy Hefe that really lacks the banana and cloves side and so borders more on the American Wheat style. I found it very drinkable but a little simple to maintain any longterm interest. There are better beers on tap at the Fishbowl. They need to kick this one up a notch.